Former Nigerian vice president Atiku Abubakar has urged the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation to release any information concerning President Bola Tinubu that can legally be disclosed, arguing that concerns about protecting lives should not become a shield against public scrutiny.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said on Saturday that Nigerians were already facing severe economic and security challenges.
“The FBI says disclosure could endanger lives. Which lives? Nigerians are already dying,” Atiku said in the statement.
He accused Tinubu’s administration of pursuing economic policies that had worsened living conditions for many Nigerians since the president took office in 2023.
Atiku cited deaths linked to terrorism and banditry, as well as difficulties in accessing food and healthcare, saying many households were struggling to meet basic needs.
“Families that once managed three meals now struggle for one. Parents cannot afford medicines for sick children,” he said.
He also criticised Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidies, describing the policy as a major contributor to rising transport and living costs.
Atiku reiterated his commitment to restoring fuel subsidies if elected president, saying any such programme under his administration would be targeted, transparently financed, capped and independently audited.
“Fuel affects transportation. Transportation affects food prices. Energy affects production. Production affects jobs. All of them determine whether an ordinary Nigerian family can survive until the end of the month,” he said.
The former vice president said Nigerians should judge the government’s economic policies by their effect on households and businesses rather than by fiscal targets.
Turning to the FBI, Atiku said he was not calling for the disclosure of information that could compromise investigations.
“Protect your agents. Protect your sources. Protect legitimate investigative methods. Redact whatever American law genuinely requires you to redact,” he said.
However, he argued that such protections should not prevent the release of information that could legally be made public and was relevant to Nigerians’ understanding of their president.
“Our demand of American law enforcement is not a call to interfere in Nigeria’s politics. It is a humanitarian and democratic appeal rooted in the principle that people have a right to information legitimately available about those who exercise enormous power over their lives,” Atiku said.
He said Nigerians had a democratic right to know the history and character of the person occupying the country’s highest office.
“If information can lawfully be released without endangering investigators, confidential sources or legitimate law-enforcement operations, release it,” he added.
Atiku said Nigerians were not asking the United States to intervene in Nigeria’s democratic process, but wanted American laws on secrecy to be applied without unnecessarily restricting information of legitimate public interest.
“Nigerians are not asking America to conduct our democracy for us. We are saying that American secrecy laws must not inadvertently become a sanctuary from accountability in Nigeria,” he said.
Atiku, who served as vice president from 1999 to 2007, was the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress in the statement issued on Saturday.
His comments come amid continuing calls for greater transparency over information held by US authorities concerning prominent Nigerian political figures.
